Painter

Li Chan has been with Bijun since he was a child, and he learned all his painting skills from Bijun, but Bijun seldom paints. The last time he started painting, he drew a person with Lu Zijing's essence and blood on Luming Mountain, and it was over. The obsession of the patriarch of Qingque Palace.Li Chan left the chess pavilion and tossed and turned on the bed for a long time without being able to fall asleep. She couldn't help thinking about the mystery of the astrology drawn by Mr. Bi. Later, she simply lifted the quilt and went to the bookstore to chat with moths.From the daytime exam, to the conversation by the oil wall car when I came back, and to the murals outside the Daxiangguo Temple, when I went back to my bed, I took a copy of "Painting Records" handwritten by an old bookworm, and leaned against the window to read.

Most of the monsters used to be nocturnal, but on the important day of the spring examination, no one dared to make any noise. When some little monsters were playing loudly, they were slapped on the head by the white cat's paw. There was a shock.It wasn't until the light through the window dimmed and turned a smoky blue color that Hong Yao entered the room to add oil to the lamp, but Li Chan was still holding the book without turning the pages. With his head folded and his eyes closed, he had already fallen asleep.Hong Yao carefully took the book to the table, pulled the quilt to cover Li Chan's knees, then turned off the oil lamp, and walked out lightly.

The night is dark, the handle of the bucket in the sky is about to point to Ding, and the solar term is warm and cold, and the fog has formed extremely heavy dewdrops on the grass and trees in the courtyard.In the middle of the night, there was the sound of drumming from Qiaolou in the fog, and the sound of copper gongs from the West Market after a long time. After a long time, before dawn, peddlers were already hawking in the alley.

Among the scattered peddlers, there was a figure walking through the fog without touching the ground, like a fairy.

This figure successively entered a certain Taoist apartment, a certain mansion or a certain house, put something on the window sill, bedside, or table, and then left.Those who performed well in the spring examination of the Qianyuan Academy yesterday were either meditating or sleeping peacefully in these places. Occasionally, people with keen senses would wake up and open their eyes, but only saw a wisp of mist drifting away.

Not long after, this figure came outside Guangzhaifang. He looked at the so-called "three days into a house" in the abandoned garden of Fengchen General's Mansion, and raised his nose, but he seemed to smell a trace of evil spirit, and he couldn't help but The footsteps stopped, and the next moment, he walked in with great interest.

Li Dan's coloring in the Qingling Tomb of Lizhou had already been scrutinized by the Ministry of Rites, and this uninvited guest knew that Li Dan had an unclear relationship with Shen Zhasi.He went in and looked around to observe the demon house, but he saw the black donkey in the yard chewing the grass before dawn, and found nothing unusual.Although he was a little curious, but he had something to do and had no time to delay, he went straight to the bedroom and saw that Li Dan was sleeping in bed, so he put something on the window sill.

The moment this person left and walked down the doorstep, the scene in the garden quietly changed, as if a layer of light ink had been washed away, revealing the true face of the painting.The black donkey in the stable was still chewing grass, and there was an extra crow on the eaves.The crow and the parade Yaksha watched the mist go away.Under the old locust tree at the side, the white cat nodded up and down following the lightly tossed object in Mr. Bi's hand, which was impressively dropped by the uninvited guest just now.

And the figure who walked away through the fog didn't realize it until he left Guangzhaifang. He had just walked through the painting.

……

In the morning, Li Chan was awakened by a knock on the window. He opened his eyes and was dazed for about half a breath. He turned his head and saw that Xu Da had just opened the window a crack.Looking at the sky, it was still very early, and I couldn't help but feel puzzled, so I saw a figure in the mist outside the window.He was about to reach out to get his clothes, but found that he slept with his clothes on last night. His eyes glanced at the quilt on his knees and the lamp on the table, and he got up and went out the door.

Outside the door, Mr. Bi was throwing something by the locust tree. When Li Chan approached, he threw it lightly.Li Chan took it and saw that it was a strangely shaped copper coin, which was cold to the touch.The sky was still dark, and when I looked at it with blue eyes, I could see clearly that the words on the coin were not "Lin Gong Tong Bao".

Li Chandan blinked, and the copper coin in his palm turned into a looming insect shape with four wings growing from his back.

"This money..."

"A while ago, someone sent it." Mr. Bi said.

"Who?" Li Chan asked, looking at the copper coins, and muttering: "If you want to enter, then enter, if you want to exit, then exit..." After a pause, he said thoughtfully: "If the mother of the gnat obeys her son..."

As soon as the six words "If the mother of the clam follows her son" came out, the copper coin suddenly flew out of the palm, just after flying half a foot, a white shadow flew by, Xu Da pressed it under the claws like a butterfly.

The saying "If you want to enter, you can enter, if you want to get out, you can go out, if the mother of a clam obeys her son", it is an ancient saying for seeking saints, and this is probably the clue that the eight characters on the money will lead to.However, Li Chan didn't need to be reminded by the words on the money. With the blue eyes, he could tell that it was a green coin.

Insects like green clam, the mother does not live alone, and some of them have become demons, even if they are separated by hundreds of miles, they will gather together in one place.There are heretics who make son and mother money, they only need to keep the son's money, and the mother's money will fly back to the bag after a while, and the blood of the green clam is used.

However, this piece of mother money does not look like something that heretics disrupt the market to make a fool of themselves, but rather like a "road guide".

Li Chan touched Xu Da who was asking for credit, picked up the copper coin, and asked suspiciously, "Are you from Qianyuan Academy?"

"Maybe." Mr. Bi smiled, "Going to try?"

Seeing Mr. Bi's expression, Li Chan immediately said "go", put away her mother's money, went into the house and picked up a willow branch soaked in salt water, chewed it in her mouth, and led the black donkey out of the stable.Hong Yao rushed out from the western kitchen after hearing the sound, but it was too late to prepare breakfast. Tu Shanxi brought a lantern and stuffed it into Li Chan's hand. avoid.

When Li Chan went out, she stepped on the black donkey, lifted the lantern, took out a piece of twine, and hung up the mother's money.It was almost mid-spring, and the dew was heavy with rheumatism. The black donkey had just gone out for a while, and its fur was shiny with a layer of water reflecting the light.

Li Chan recited the six-character incantation again, and the copper coin hanging on the hemp thread suddenly floated against the wind, pointing straight to the east, Li Chan stretched out his hand to pat the donkey's buttocks, and the black donkey turned around and turned into the narrow alley to the east.

So one person and one donkey seemed to be led by the copper coins on the thread, and walked through the streets and alleys, passing the peddlers shouting.When the sky is completely bright, the guidance of copper coins has begun to drift, and it is probably close to the end.Seeing that there are more and more pedestrians, following the direction of the copper coins, and sometimes even passing through the tiles of the tea shed, Li Chan got off the black donkey and hung the lantern beside the donkey.

He led his donkey through Chaoyan Alley, and when he raised his eyes, he saw a building with a sign of "Xingguo Square" hanging on it. It was the place where he and Mr. Bi had been there on the night of the Dongyue Temple Fair.